Special Investigation – Atheist Alert
Filed under: atheism, humour, Video | 1 Comment »
Special Investigation – Atheist Alert
Posted on November 1st, 2009 by Jason
A New Senate?
Posted on October 27th, 2009 by Jason
There has been much talk in the last few weeks about the future of the Senate. While I have some sympathy for Enda Kenny’s suggestion that the Senate be abolished I doubt there is any realistic chance that will happen.
However I do think we have an opportunity to reform the confusing and outdated upper house.
My suggestion is to re-make the Senate as a directly elected house that could have a greater role in government and also act as a way for minority view points to be heard.
Currently the 60 seats in the Senate are elected in a convoluted and frankly unfair way (more detail here). I suggest we replace this with an easy to understand, more democratic system.
26 seats should be elected on the basis of one per county, this would provide low population counties like Leitrim with guaranteed representation and might help to make the ongoing redistribution of Dáil seats from rural and western areas to urban and east coast areas more palatable. This is of course unfair to some counties (Dublin, Cork etc.) which have large populations but these areas have large numbers of TD’s. Having said that, Dublin city could be allocated 1 or more Senetors to address this if necessary. If a Senator was allocated to Cork city then Limerick and Galway might also have to be looked at.
The remaining 34 Senators (or a smaller number if we reduce the number of Senators) should then be elected from a single national constituency. This would mean that an individual or small political party could achieve a Senate seat with around 3% of the vote this would ensure that minority viewpoints were included in the new Senate and yes that might include some people we don’t like. The political parties would need to draw up lists in advance and they would them be allocated seats proportional to the vote they achieved. I’d imagine a system where people voted for a party rather than individual would make the voting simpler. There is still the question of how Independents would appear on the national ballot and what rules would be in place for a candidate to qualify to appear on the ballot (perhaps 5,000 nominators?).
This is just a rough outline, I’d really like to here comments from other people.
Filed under: debate, ireland, politics, Seanad Éireann | Leave a comment »
Atheists in a Pub
Posted on October 14th, 2009 by Jason
Atheist Ireland will be holding the first of what will hopefully be regular Atheists in a pub events here in Limerick on Friday the 30th October in the Locke Bar. Start time will be 8pm.
The idea is to allow people to meet up in an informal setting for a chat and a few drinks and yes we ripped off the name from these guys 🙂 If anyone can think of a more original name let me know.
I’ll most likely post future events here but to be sure you’re kept up to date you should join our meetup.com group (thanks to Louis for setting this up). I think meetup.com has the potential to be a source of new members so if as many people as possible could join it would be helpful. A popular group is more likely to attract new people and it only takes two minutes to sign up and won’t cost you anything.
Also a reminder that you can join Atheist Ireland here and help to build a secular and ethical Ireland.
Filed under: announcements, atheism, humanism, Meetings, skepticism | Leave a comment »
Democralogue – The Blasphemy Debate: In Their Own Words
Posted on September 12th, 2009 by Jason
This is an entry for the Darklight ‘Democracy and Dialogue’ viral video competition 2009.
All of the lines spoken by the actors are direct quotes from the politicians involved in the blasphemy debate, going back to Eamon DeValera in 1937.
Written, Directed, Edited and Narrated by: Baz Grant
Yvonne Usher as: David Norriss, Ciaran Cuffe,
Angelica Grant as: Dermot Ahern, Micheal Martin, Charles J Haughey, Eamon DeValera
Sound by: Fuzzy Dunlop
All footage, stills, sound effects and music are from the public domain.
Filed under: blasphemy, debate, religion, Video | Leave a comment »
Limerick Post Interview
Posted on August 8th, 2009 by Jason
I was recently interviewed by the Limerick Post. The article is below, you can see a larger version here.
Limerick Post 8th August
Filed under: atheism, blasphemy, humanism, Press | 1 Comment »
Blasphemy Law Explained by Jesus and Mo
Posted on July 24th, 2009 by Jason
Filed under: blasphemy, humour | Leave a comment »
Atheist Ireland Letter to the President
Posted on July 21st, 2009 by Jason
Atheist Ireland has written a letter to the Preseident ahead of tomorrow’s meeting of the Council of State. This meeting will consider the recently passed Defamation Bill as well as the Criminal Justice bill.
The letter covers the following points –
- The law is contrary to the guarantees of equality under the law enshrined in Article 40.1 of the Irish Constitution, and of freedom of conscience and religion enshrined in Article 44.2.
- The law is contrary to Article 44.2.3 of the Irish Constitution, which says that the State shall not impose any disabilities or make any discrimination on the ground of religious profession, belief or status.
- The law shifts the burden of proof to the defendant in contravention of Article 38 of the Constitution, and of Schedule 1, Article 6, 2. and 3(a) of the European Convention on Human Rights Act, 2003.
- The law does not meet the standard of prevention of imminent public disorder that made the old English blasphemy law compatible with the European Convention of Human Rights.
- The definitions in the law are too vague to allow citizens to regulate their conduct, and it could make it unlawful for a religious citizen to inform his co-religionists about a statement he believes to be blasphemous.
The full text of the letter is here.
There is also an interesting article on the background here.
Filed under: atheism, blasphemy | Leave a comment »
Interview on Limerick Live 95
Posted on July 19th, 2009 by Jason
Sorry for the delay in posting this audio, I’ve had to split it into two parts due to the Houndbite’s 8Mb limit. We covered many of the comments I’m sure we’ve all heard from theists and also touched briefly on the blasphemy situation.
Filed under: atheism, audio, blasphemy, radio | 1 Comment »
Live 95 FM
Posted on July 14th, 2009 by Jason
I’ll be on Live 95 tomorrow morning around 10.15. I’m being interviewed about the Fianna Fáil/Green Party Blasphemy law which passed both houses of the Oireachtas last week and is due to be signed by the President this week. I’ll also talk about the formation of Atheist Ireland and some of its broader aims.
If you get the chance please listen live here.
Filed under: announcements, atheism, blasphemy, debate, radio | Leave a comment »
Atheist Ireland’s AGM
Posted on July 6th, 2009 by Jason
As you may know Atheist Ireland will be having it’s first AGM this Saturday (11th July). I’ll be attending, it promises to be an busy but enjoyable meeting, I hope to see a decent turnout from the Mid-west.
The meeting is open to members and non-members so even if you haven’t signed up yet you can still attend. Speaking of signing up you can do so here.
Below is a description of the agenda of the meeting from AI’s Facebook page.
We will be planning the next stage in our campaign against the Irish blasphemy bill, which is likely to be passed in the Dail this Wednesday.
We will also be planning campaigns for a secular Constitution generally, an a secular education system, plus a campaign under the auspices or Atheist ireland encouraging people to read the Bible.
Members of the public are welcome to attend, so please feel free to bring a friend or two who might be interested in finding out more about our work.
Afterwards we will be going to the Market Bar in Fade Street for some food and socialising.
We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, and to working together for an ethical an secular Ireland free from superstition and supernaturalism.
The meeting takes place at 14.00 in Wynn’s Hotel in Abbey St, Dublin. More info can be found here.
Filed under: announcements, atheism, Meetings | 1 Comment »
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Mid-west Humanists - An Irish Atheist Community 